Week 9: Blog 1: Chapterness

Welcome to Week 9 guys.....let the sleepless nights begin

Well to begin........BUCKEYES NUMBER 1 (not sure if thats a good thing but its one massive target on our backs again)

Ill just list everything first then ill talk about it at the end

My Chapter

Strengths

- Brotherhood

- Rivalry Run (its definitely on the up and up)

- Service (Food drive is doing work)

- Knowledge, Scholarship (what ever you want to call it, our grades are great and going up)

-Classiness

- Being a Gentlemen

Weakness

-Recruitment

-Social

I am sure I am missing things in each section, so forgive me. First we are well know on campus of being great guys, I believe this to be true and have no reason against it. We have taken things to all new levels in the Rivalry Run. We have taken something that was on the verge of dieing out and breathing a load of fresh air into it. We can only expect more great things from it in the near future (maybe one day we surpass m!chg@n). The food drive is still going strong and expanding every year. Can not wait to see the food total from this year. Again with everyone I talk to everyone has great respect for us around Campus.

Weakness are not true weakness, just things that need improvement because they are not quite to the standards of the others. In terms of recruitment I feel like we struggle every quarter to find recruits, but some how we manage find great guys at the last minute (somewhere this is going to fail and hurt the chapter). Although I think we are improving a lot since last year, the committee has a great new approach and I look forward to see where its going. Spring is already looking up. As to social, I am really not sure how to fix this. I have talked to various sororities and in the past we have no shown well at TG and other events (including non-alcoholic). So have said we are timid and shy, others say awkward. While none of these are the worst scenario, they can be improved. I can say at the last TG we brought more guys then the girls, more of dressed to the theme, and overall interacted with everyone just fine. So social appears to maybe be going up as well, although I think this will take the longest to improve because image is not something that can be improved overnight

Council: IFC

What can I say about IFC? I used to think of them as a body of people that did nothing, did not do what they were suppose to do. Lately I have seen a major increase of policing the chapters to make sure they are following all the rules. While I don't agree in a massive police force to control our community, but sometimes it is necessary to curb the abuses and put the community back on track. I still don't see them doing much, but that may because I have no involvement with them. Perhaps something to improve would be their lame attempt at showing off the houses. I remember last year and when I was a freshman the attempt to bring guys around to all the house was sub par at best. I believe there were less then 10 guys that came out and there was very little structure. I would suggest advertising the event better so that more guys come out to see more of the houses. Other than that I really don't know all of what IFC does or doesn't do. So maybe being more open, or talking about it at the new member dinner.

The Community: GREEK LIFE IN GENERAL

Well as a whole we need to work together because we are pieces of a whole puzzle. While not all chapter are like FIJI, not all chapters should. Uniqueness is great for our community and I believe there is a chapter for everyone, that being said the Animal House image has to die. Our community does such great things for both the university and the surrounding area. We have to continue working with the university for it is our largest ally. Our president wants to expand us from 6% to close to 12%, which says a lot. If the university obviously believes we do great things. We need to wear our letters to class and the library, places that are visible, but never out out to drink or even around alcohol. We are improving in this area, but still need to improve. If we want our community to grow and expand and become even greater then it already is, we have to improve our image. We need to continue to welcome diversity and encourage each other to improve our relationships both with each other and the overall community

Sorry for the length got a bit carried away

because I have not posted anything cool in while i present you with the following

Wikipedia article of the day

The Word of the Day

And Last But Not Least the URBAN WORD OF THE DAY

Enjoy

Damn Proud to be an American

and always Proud to be a FIJI

- Weaver

Watch this

well.....image anyone?

-Weaver

Dilemma: The risk of image

I know I have talked about this before, but in order for us to maintain or even grow as a community we must look at our image.

Popular culture shows the Greek system as a place to go get drunk at a toga party and have a crap ton of sex with random women. And the next day do the same thing all over again.

We are NOT that image.

The Greek community does so much more then having a place to booze. We have a rich history filled with alumni who have done great things. We, as the community give countless hours toward service in many different areas. We are the leaders on campus.

While we might drink from time to time we are no worse then the rest of college students, with that being said we have to watch our selves a lot harder. The past has dictated our future. Because the 80's and 90's partied so hard we are left with their image. Because of the past, we are still seen as the crazy party places. So we need to work harder to correct that image.

A fraternity is a portal to both past and future. As a current member we are the guardians of the portal keeping it safe for both past and present.

Proud to be an American

Damn Proud to be a FIJI

-WEAVER

Community Service: The Run

My last service event I participated in was the Rivalry Run.

Well many of us if not all of us participated in the run, this was not only a service event, but a really great brotherhood event. My involvement went from helping with parking, to canvasing, to the actual run its self.

Lets begin with parking. Simple task, putting cars in the back lot while receiving a cash payment. Well everyone one has their own idea on how to park cars in the back lot and how many we should park. This created a small problem, but we were able to work through it and create a working solution. Also it turned out to be a load of fun to just sit around and joke as we passed the time.

And now on to canvasing. I went out with two other brothers to atempt to raise a few more dollars. There was a lot of time between tail gates that we hit, so we had a lot of time to talk. This was a great time to get to know two brothers I don't normally get to talk to. I learned the strengths of my brothers, such as their communication skills far out weigh mine. Although I know a few more people in Columbus. With our combined skills we were able to make raise several hundred dollars.

Now for the run, I didn't do a whole lot of running, but I sat in the pace car and for sometime actually drove the car. This by far was the longest time I have ever sat in one space with my current roommate. We were able to talk for a long time. I learned things about him and gain a lot of respect for him.

With the end of that, I now looked forward to the canned food drive. Which if years past tells me anything, I am sure it will be a grand old time.

As always proud to be an American

and damn proud to be a FIJI

-Weaver

Chicago

So I decided to go to Chicago over the weekend to visit my friend for his 21st birthday.

First off I drove 7.5 hours by myself to the city.....its a great town minus the mass amounts of traffic. I rolled into Northwestern around 8pm. First thing that was handed to me was a slice of deep dish pizza and a cold Goose Island beer. (Great combo for arriving in the town). And then I changed clothes and my best friend said I found the Ohio State bar in Chicago. Naturally we had to go and after a night of random bar hops we made it back to his house.

Now to the fun night. We woke up and began our search for food. As we were driving through Evanston, I found what might be one of the greatest discoveries ever WINGS OVER EVANSTON, yep I ate there and introduced him to the food. After a quick visit to the grocery store to pick up some beverages for the night we headed back to his house. (First the beer is cheaper (sad-face they are a bush campus) and you can have coupons for alcohol (liqueur is also available at the grocery store)).

After we were home we talked for a while, but he had to go to frisbee practice. So I decided go and meet some FIJI's. This proved to be one of the greatest experience of the weekend. I walked in and knocked and introduced myself. They immediately accept me as a friend and a brother.

This brings me to my point of this post. We are brothers of this chapter, but also we are brothers of a much larger fraternity. This is something so unique compared to other organizations (I know we are not an organization but its the closest thing I could think of). What other group of people can travel around the country and Canada and be instantly welcomed into a group. There is no awkward phase of trying to get to know people or trying to figure out their values. Once you know someone is a FIJI you can trust them. Thats what happened on Saturday night for me. I have met many FIJI's that came through and stayed at our house, but this was the first time I had visited another house by myself.

So I encourage the FIJI Nation out there, go meet your brothers. I myself and currently planning a tour de FIJI for next August. Now who wants to come

As always

I am proud to be an American

and now more then ever DAMN PROUD TO BE A FIJI

-Weaver

Collaboration: A FIJI connection

Sorry Tim had to do this one,

THE CHARIOT RACE and ISLANDER SET UP

First since one of my brothers has already talked about the great chariot race, ill keep this section short and brief. Also I know both of these projects involve building things, but I am an engineer so deal with it.

`The Great Chariot Race down 15th, was a great day to be a FIJI. In short we won thanks to some mighty powerful guys. What most people didn't see was 2 weeks prior, several brothers including me meet for a planning session to decide if we even wanted to do the chariot or had the time for it. The meeting went well and soon everyones idea was heard and we settled on a basic design that would be sturdy and go quick. Tim summed everything up in his blog so ill just continue with my ISLANDER STORY.

For the record this has nothing to do with booze of any sort just the week leading up to Friday. Prior to the week, the islander group came together and looked at the forecast and realized rain was going to happen. The party was set and the date could not be changed. So after several days of thinking and trying several different idea, the only way was to go and buy the largest tarps possible and tent the whole back yard. These TARPS are HUGE, so not one person could have done it alone. It took coordination from people pulling the rope to those rolling the tarp down the rope. Communication was a must or the party simply was going to happen. We worked for two days we were able to completely tent the back yard and keep the party goers dry. I could not have done this without my brothers and us being able to communicate. If we were not able to communicate and come together, the tarp would not have gone up and the party would have been very wet.

Hide Yo' self

As always proud to be an American

and DAMN PROUD TO BE A FIJI

-Weaver

P!

Extra Blog: Recruitment

I would like to apologize for the lateness, but I had a very busy weekend

Recruitment

This is my guide to recruitment, I have been using it for a while now and seems to be working. Take what you will leave what you want.

Recruitments easy, all you have to do is get to know someone new. How you do that is the challenge. There are many methods I have used to go out of my way to meet new guys, I have looked in class, in groups, at friends, the ways a endless.

Class: We all don't like not knowing someone in our classes, so strike up a conversation in with the person sitting next to you. Most people are like you and don't want to sit there quietly. I have done it numerous times, so its really not that hard. After a while you will become facebook friends or exchange numbers so you can study together. Ill cover how to get them around the chapter in a later section.

Social Groups or Educational Groups: Everyone is part of a group some how. For example I am part of Engineering Scholars and when I was part of the group I actively always searched to find a good FIJI. There are many other groups like SAC, ECO CAR, Ohio Staters, ect. where you are already are set up to meet people. Always ask yourself when you meat a new guy "Is he right for FIJI".

Friends: This can be a tricky subject. Not all friends make great recruits. I know when I first came through the chapter, I was told to replace myself, and my first thought was my friends from high school. After trying to get them to come around and truly understanding what makes a great FIJI, I found myself realizing that not everyone is destined to be a FIJI. So in this area be careful not everyone including your best friends can be FIJI's. Also remember that just because they are not FIJI's doesn't mean they can't be your friends.

How to get them to come around: There are several ways to approach this. If you already know they are interested in greek life then it is easy to get them to come around to the house. Also understand that if they are interested in greek life, they are more then likely looking into other houses, so it essential that you can get them around as quickly as possible. If they are not interested in greek life as several of my brothers were not originally, then don't bring up greek life till much later. Get to know the person first and hang out with them outside of the house, but bring your brothers a long so they get to know your friends. Eventually when you invite them to the house, to study or whatever, they will soon see that many people they know and like are part of the chapter. After that its is super easy to get them to come around.

How to deal with recruits: Now that you have them coming around its time to show them all aspects of the fraternity. You can preach all you want, but until they actually see what we are about they are still skeptic. Invite them out for the a night out (make sure this is not the only thing they see), invite them to go workout or play a sport, invite them to the house or library to study with a few brothers. It is very crucial they don't just see you as a partier, but are also serious about school and fitness. Well this is important for them, its also vital for the chapter. While they see the different aspects, the chapter is able to see just how the guy preforms in different areas. You can see his study habits, how he handles himself socially. So remember always invite brothers with you when you go and hang out with him. Its a great way to get to know the potential and for the potential to get to know us.

Now we say recruit 365 days a year, that does not mean on Christmas, or new years, or thanksgiving that you are expected to find a new guy for the chapter or even talk to the recruit you are already talking to. But always to be aware of the people around and given the opportunity that you run into someone who does, you actively pursue him.

One last point, the chapter sells its self. This is a great chapter that has many great achievements, not only in scholarship but also in the community and socially. (What up chariot race and Greek Week '10). The reputation of the chapter is crucial in recruiting. Often the recruit hears of the chapter before actually meeting a brother.

You guys know I love youtube videos so I found a great one from some brothers

And because this video does recruitment for us.......

With that keep recruiting guys 365 days a year.

As always proud to be an American

and damn proud to be a FIJI

-Weaver

SNOW DAY!!!!!

Just Kidding, but that would have been nice

Citizenship

First off found a new show everyone should check out

Party Down

Found it on netflix really flipping funny

On to Citizenship

What does it mean to me?

For me citizenship is really just a community of people having similar ideal (or values) that band together for a greater goal. Now this not only applies to a country, but even a smaller group. States, Cities, Universities and even fraternities. So I am going to talk about the level that effects me everyday.

Fraternities are small communities containing people with similar values that have banded together for a greater goal of brotherhood. So now what does it mean to me? To be a good citizen, one must be a good brother.

To be a good brother is not hard. All I ask of my brothers is to be kind and to care for one another. For them to realize that the whole is greater then the parts. That no one is better then FIJI itself. Actually Kaseman just put a sign in his room "More Phi Gamm Less Self." Being brothers allows us to work together and have a bunch of unique ideas. So to be a good brother one must be able to hear multiple ideas and help form an goal that will better the group as a whole.

I only ever ask my brothers to do these simple things, if I did not believe that I do not already due these myself.

Here's a fun video

THUNDER SNOW!!!!!!!! NEXT SNOW TORNADOES

As always

PROUD to be AMERICAN

and DAMN PROUD to be a FIJI

My Ritual

Good evening guys, hope the weather finds you well!

Currently watching the American Skins with Ozzy

(not as good as the British version)

On to the more serious topic of living the Ritual,

As a man of Phi Gamma Delta, we are required to place three values in order. Scholarship, Fraternity, Self. I live my life by these values. My daily ritual includes all of these. Besides everyday having class, I take a scholarship to a different level. For me, scholarship does not equal grades, but a purpose of learning. Everyday, I try and learn something new about a subject I have little to no knowledge about. Essentially, my head is full of random facts. Don't know why, but its something I started a long time ago.

Fraternity. This I always place above myself. I love all my brothers and will do almost any for them. I say almost most anything, because currently I don't see myself being able to kill someone. As most of my brothers know, when someone asks for help, I am one of the first to jump up. As part of my daily ritual, I try to spend as much time as possible helping my brothers, or often just spending time with them. Even as I write this I am watching t.v. with Garrison, Cox, and Ozzy.

Self. This might be the 3rd most important in my life at FIJI. Its one I take very seriously. I enjoy my alone time. This is often the time in my day when I am able to reflect on what happened. I am able to determine whether, I did obtain knowledge for the day, or have been a good brother. If I determine I have not been, then I am to reflect on how to improve next time. If everything was done, I am able to look forward to my next day.

I try to live my life according to the ritual, some days I do not, but more then not, I am able to.

To go along with my recent posts I include a video. This blog contains the guy before Bill Nye the Science guy. Julius Sumner Miller's experiments often don't quite work, but this guy continues as if they did, often with some hilarious one liners. If you have never seen one of his videos please watch this one and many more on youtube

ENJOY!

Funny?

As always

Proud to be an American

and Damn Proud to be a FIJI

-Weaver

I am Proud to be Both a Buckeye and a FIJI

I wished to start this week with this crazy good video.

Every time I hear Carmen Ohio I get chills. This video shows how much FIJI is involved with this campus.

There is no better combination then being both a Buckeye and a FIJI

As always

Proud to be an American

and damn Proud to be a FIJI

-Weaver

The Odyssey

If your a fan then don't read.

Also I will not be including anyone's name or fraternity or sorority out of kindness

Website: The Odyssey

Where to start with this.

The odyssey is a student run news magazine, made for greeks, by the greeks. This is not the problem. I have no issue with celebrating the great things our community does, or presenting articles about issues facing our community.

Lets look at last weeks edition. On the cover shows a bunch of fraternity men enjoying a football game. Taking a closer look reveals a beer sitting on someones lap. Is this the image we want to portray to our community. I could go further into the cover, but I would have to name names.

On top of that I have no problem saying the editing is very, very poor. Don't get me wrong, I am not the best writer, but I think I could do better.

I can go on for hours, so just ask me about it sometime and I will gladly tell you

Oh and hears a kick-ass recruitment video

As always, Proud to be an American

And Damn Proud to to be a FIJI

-Weaver

Values #1 Friendship

First I know the time I am posting this most of you will not have read it, but I have thought deeply on how to write this and came up with a solution. I plan on writing about one of my values every week. So your looking at at least 3 blogs from me a week. (One for class, one of my values, and one about something completely different) Get pumped. Alright here we go

Friendship

Before I begin funny story about the word friend. Since I am dyslexic words like friend were very difficult to spell, until my of my teachers told me to remember it like this. FRIday is the END of the week. That way I don't switch up the i and the e. Anyways.........

What exactly is friendship?

A friend is someone who bails you out of jail. A true friend is someone who sits with you in the jail cell and says "Wow. That was fun." I like this quote solely because its a great example of a true friend. While I believe friendship is there to push us further, but it is also there to keep a good head on our shoulders. With that being said friendship is a two way street, not only do my brothers care for me, but I also care for them. I will do almost anything for my brothers. Whether thats simply going to the library with them, to staying up all night talking about their issues. One of FIJI's sayings is "not for college days alone" and this could not be more true. We are not only a group of men with similar values, but a great group of friends. I don't look at brotherhood as a task I have to do, but just a time to hang out with some of the best people. Now a word from our super creepy talking dinosaur that looks after kids

I hope you didn't have your headphones in and everyone just heard you were listening to Barney. Suckers.

But really the meaning is there behind the creepiness.

Look forward to next week were we will go through my next value. Its a surprise

As always proud to be an American

and Damn Proud to be a FIJI

-Weaver

Hot Chocolate

Alright first let me apologize for the lack of blogging, I have several that I am writing, they just are not quite done, ill release them latter this week look for 4 or 5.

Anyways wanted to share this story, that happened to me over the weekend. During Sorority formal recruitment, I helped pass out hot chocolate to the poor, cold potential new members. Which was fun, most girls didn't take any, but at least said thank-you. Expect for this one girl when asked if she wanted one she said "Not from YOU!". I was not happy with this response and put a huge downer on the rest of the day.

So Sunday came around and we put our little hot coco table up again and began handing out the beverages. More girls actually stopped and talked to us, and took more hot coco. So we were feeling that maybe the day was turning around and maybe yesterday just had all the bitchy girls or something. Then one girl stopped and talked to us. She said she didn't need any but wanted to thank us for doing this and to apologize for yesterday.

Now I am not positive that she is the same one that was so rude the day before, but I am almost positive she is. After thanking us for standing out in the cold and giving hot coco to those who wanted it, she told us exactly why she was to hostel. I guess there were several sororities telling their girls that, the guys handing out hot coco threw water balloons at them two years ago. This took me back that people would say such things about FIJI. We assured the girl that it was not us, but it got me thinking. I asked around to the seniors and found that we had not thrown water balloons at the potential new members. We were told by many girls that there fraternities down the street that were cat calling and calling out numbers as girls walked by. (This really helps the greek image right?) Heres what I learned from the weekend

1) Your reputation is everything.

2) Don't Judge someone without knowing the whole story

3) Hanging with your brothers in the freezing cold could not have been more fun

4) People take notice of the small things, even if as simple as holding the door open for people or passing out hot chocolate

5) FREE HOT CHOCOLATE according to Taylor Yohe "Those words don't even go together"

And because I love the song so much

As Always Proud to be an American

and damn proud to be a FIJI

-Weaver

FIJI Till I Die

Location: Scholars Lounge at the Thompson Library

Time: 7pm

Current Music Selection: Top 25

ME

My name is Nick Weaver and I am currently in my third year while studying electrical engineering at THE Ohio State University. I have been part of greek life since I joined in winter of '09. I am dyslexic (thank God for spell check). So ill try my hardest to spell everything right, but no promises. Another cool fact about me is I am left handed. My family is something I hold very close to my heart. My sister had a seizure a few years back and almost died, so i am very protective of her. I love my parents and grandparents. I miss my grandpa very much.

Ice Hockey has been a large passion of mine since I was a child, sadly unlike LeBitch I was not able to take my talents to anyplace (mostly because I am not good enough). I still skate and play when I get the chance. I am a Blue Jackets fan first and then a Red Wings fan second. A Bengals fan and a Cavs fan. I love Germany and would love to live there for a few years. I have taken German since I was in 7th grade and have been there twice. The first time I was there, the world cup was going on, might have been one of the craziest times in my life. One thing I hold very dear to my heart is my patriotism. I have no fear showing that I am an American. I am damn proud to be an American and a Phi Gamm.

Why FIJI

My experience with Phi Gamma Delta began long ago, when I was young I noticed a tattoo below my dads left ankle, he told me it was his fraternity. What I didn't know then was just how much FIJI was going to shape my life. When I graduated high school, the discussion came up if I was going to go greek or not. I had always heard the Animal House stories from my Dad and his friends, but I didn't know if I was really cut out for that. Surprisingly at no time did my dad pressure me into joining FIJI, or even going greek.

Coming to campus and exploring the different fraternities, I soon found myself questioning if I wanted to be part of greek life. Most of the houses were in shambles and it seemed that most people seemed to drink most of the day. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against drinking, but there is more to life. And just as I was about to give up I visited my Dad's fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta.

Here I found something completely different then the animal house version my Dad had told me of. The house was clean, the guys were nice and didn't seem to be pressuring me to join when they first met me. Soon I wasn't rushing anywhere, I was just making friends. I received my bid, and I have not looked back. I hold all of my brothers close to my heart. My Dad and his friends are very pleased that as they say made the right decision. My Dad and I are closer then ever. They are always pushing me to make myself better, whether its going to the gym, or studying. Without them I don't know where I would be.

This Class

I am looking forward to this class. This will be a great chance to get to know many of my brothers on a more personal level. While at the same time being able to discuss the problems of the greek community and how to change stereo types.